Trekking in the Canary Islands: The GR131 island-hopping route

By Paddy Dillon

A guidebook to trekking the 560km (348 mile) GR131 across the Canary Islands. The island-hopping long-distance trail crosses Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro and can be hiked in around a month, or split into shorter sections. Most of the route uses quiet roads, tracks and old mule paths, but there are some remote stretches, as well as occasional steep and rocky mountain paths.

The route is presented in 32 stages of between 7 and 30km (4–18 miles). Also included is an optional ascent of Spain’s highest peak, El Teide on Tenerife.

• Clear route description illustrated with 1:50,000 mapping
• GPX files available to download
• Notes on accommodation, refreshments and local transport
• Information on ferry transfers between the islands
• Sized to easily fit in a jacket pocket

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Jan 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781783627967

Paddy Dillon

Paddy Dillon is a prolific walker and guidebook writer, with over 100 guidebooks to his name and contributions to 40 other titles. He has written for several outdoor magazines and other publications and has appeared on radio and television. Paddy uses a tablet computer to write as he walks. His descriptions are therefore precise, having been written at the very point at which the reader uses them. Paddy is an indefatigable long-distance walker who has walked all of Britain's National Trails and several European trails. He has also walked in Nepal, China, Korea and the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the US.  www.paddydillon.co.uk

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Rock overhangs a splendid paved path high above Cruz Grande (Stage 17)

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

Climbing past terraces in the Valle de Malpaso above Haría (Stage 2)

INTRODUCTION

The Canary Islands comprise seven subtropical islands with enviable weather and a great variety of scenery. Who wouldn’t want to trek all the way across them, one after another? There are rugged coastlines and occasional sandy beaches, arid slopes of aromatic scrub, steep and rugged mountains clothed in extensive pine forests and curious laurisilva ‘cloud forests’, with the possibility of snow-capped peaks rising even higher in the winter months. The GR131 is an island-hopping trail that runs coast to coast across each of the islands in turn and often seeks out the highest mountains during each traverse. It measures 560km (348 miles) and would take an average trekker about one month to complete.

The GR131 is described from east to west, starting on the arid, volcanic island of Lanzarote, later taking a short ferry ride to the desert-like Fuerteventura. A long ferry ride leads to Gran Canaria, where the mountains rise higher and feature extensive forests. Another ferry ride leads to Tenerife, where the GR131 stays high, featuring more forests, with even more rugged mountains rising above them. An option is presented to vary the route and include the mighty El Teide – the highest mountain on Spanish territory. A short ferry ride to La Gomera sees the trail climb high into extensive laurisilva ‘cloud forest’. A longer ferry ride leads to La Palma, where the trail climbs high and stays on the highest mountains, offering a particularly tough traverse ending with a steep descent. The GR131 finally finds itself making a high-level traverse through the smallest and westernmost island of El Hierro, ending at a point that was once believed to be the edge of the world.

The GR131 deserves to be one of the classic treks of the world, but because of its fragmented nature and the fact that it has been pieced together over several years, many trekkers aren’t even aware of its existence. The signposting and waymarking of the trail is largely consistent across the islands, so there is a fine sense of continuity, despite the frequent breaks while catching ferries from island to island. It is often possible to see the next island ahead, maybe with its highest mountains poking through a ‘sea of clouds’ that often forms around them. There is always something to look forward to, and something to look back at, on a journey such as this one.

Gran Canaria’s intricate valleys as seen from Monte Constantino (Stage 19)

Location

The Canary Islands are more or less enclosed in a rectangular area from 13°30’W to 18°00’W and 27°30’N to 29°30’N. As a group, they stretch from east to west over 450km (280 miles). Although administered by Spain, the mother country is 1100km (685 miles) away. The narrowest strait between the Canary Islands and Africa is a mere 110km (70 miles). The total land area is almost 7500km2 (2900 square miles), but the area of sea they occupy is 10 times that size.

Geology

Most of the world’s volcanic landscapes are formed where huge continental or oceanic ‘plates’ collide with each other or tear apart. When continental plates collide the Earth’s crust crumples upwards to form mountains, and when plates are torn apart, basaltic lava from deep with the Earth’s mantle erupts as volcanoes. The Canary Islands, however, are different and have a more complicated geological history.

The African landmass is the visible part of a continental plate that extends into the Atlantic Ocean, while the Canary Islands lie within the oceanic crust of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, close to the passive junction with the African continental plate. It is thought that the islands lie directly above a hot-spot, or mantle plume, some 2500km (1550 miles) deep within the Earth. The mantle plume is fixed, but the oceanic and African plates are drifting very slowly eastwards. Every so often a split in the oceanic crust opens above the mantle plume, allowing molten rock to vent onto the ocean floor. As more and more material erupts, it piles higher and higher until it rises from the sea. Each of the Canary Islands was formed in this way.

The Canary Islands are volcanic and this is an example of ropy lava

Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the first Canary Islands to form, were subsequently pulled eastwards. The next time a rift opened over the mantle plume the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife were formed, and these too were pulled eastwards. A further oceanic rift led to the formation of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. Looking forward in geological time more islands are bound to appear as other rifts are torn open in the future. In fact, a minor undersea eruption took place off the coast of El Hierro between October 2011 and March 2012, so the process is clearly ongoing.

The forces at work deep within the Earth can scarcely be imagined. Every single piece of rock in the Canary Islands once existed in a molten state. Consider the energy needed to melt one small stone, and multiply that to imagine the energy required to melt everything in the island chain, as well as the immense amount of rock beneath the sea that supports them all!

Over time huge amounts of volcanic material were piled high, but some of it was inherently unstable. During recent geological time vast chunks of the islands have collapsed into the sea, creating features such as the Orotava valley on Tenerife, the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma and El Golfo on El Hierro. With each catastrophic collapse tsunamis were generated, which devastated places around the Atlantic Ocean. Geologists predict that similar collapses could take place in future on the north face of El Teide on Tenerife, or on the Cumbre Nueva on La Palma.

Brief history of the Canary Islands

Myths and legends speak of ‘The Fortunate Isles’, or ‘Isles of the Blessed’, lying somewhere in the Atlantic, enjoying a wonderful climate and bearing all manner of fruit. The rebel Roman general Sertorius planned to retire there, while Plutarch referred to them many times, though Pliny warned ‘these islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea.’ Maybe these scribes knew of the Canary Islands, or maybe they were drawing on older Phoenician or Carthaginian references. Some would even claim that the islands were the last remnants of Atlantis.

The original inhabitants were often described as a ‘stone-age’ culture and are thought to have arrived from the Berber areas of North Africa well over 2000 years ago. They are generally referred to as ‘Guanches’, though this is really the term for the aboriginals of Tenerife. In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura they were the Majoreros. In Gran Canaria they were the Canarians. In La Gomera they were the Gomeritas. In La Palma they were the Benahoares. In El Hierro they were the Bimbaches. Although technologically primitive, their society was well ordered and they had a special regard for monumental rock forms, caves and other natural features.

Statues of the aboriginal chiefs of Fuerteventura (Stage 9)

The inhabitants fiercely resisted the well-armed Spaniards during the 15th century Conquest of the islands, but one by one each island fell. Tenerife capitulated last of all, with the mighty volcano of El Teide grumbling throughout. Many aboriginals were slaughtered or enslaved, but some entered into treaties, converted to Christianity and intermarried with the invaders. Though the natives lost their land and freedom, their blood flows in the veins of modern Canarios and vestiges of their traditions live on, as do some of their place names.

The Canary Islands were visited by Christopher Columbus on his voyage of discovery in 1492. Subsequently, the islands were used as stepping stones to the Americas, and many Canarios emigrated. The islands were exposed and, as they weren’t always defended with military might, they were subject to pirate raids, endured disputes with the Portuguese, were attacked by the British and suffered wavering economic fortunes.

There was constant rivalry between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with the entire island group being governed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria from 1808, before Santa Cruz de Tenerife became the capital in 1822. In 1927 the Canary Islands were divided into two provinces, with Las Palmas encompassing the three eastern islands and Santa Cruz de Tenerife encompassing the four western islands.

In the early 20th century the military governor of the Canary Islands, General Franco, departed for North Africa to launch a military coup. This marked the onset of the infamous Civil War, leading to the creation of the Spanish Republic, followed by a long and repressive dictatorship. The Canary Islands remained free of the worst strife of the Civil War, but also became something of a backwater. It was largely as a result of Franco’s later policies that the Canary Islands were developed in the 1960s as a major destination for northern Europeans.

Since 1982 the islands have been an autonomous region and there have been calls for complete independence from Spain. The islanders regard themselves as ‘Canarios’ first and ‘Spanish’ second, though they are also fiercely loyal to their own particular islands, towns and villages. Good-quality signposted and waymarked trails, including the development of the GR131, date from an initiative launched on La Palma in 1999, endorsed by the European Ramblers’ Association.

Plants and animals

The Canary Islands are geologically young and when they emerged from the ocean as molten lava and volcanic ash they were quite sterile. In time they were colonised by plants, arriving as windblown seeds and spores, or as seeds washed up from the sea. Birds and insects had no problem landing on the islands before colonising them. While the northern hemisphere was in the grip of an Ice Age, the Canary Islands were sluiced by rainstorms, with powerful rivers carving deep, steep-sided barrancos into unstable layers of lava and ash. When the land was so well watered it would have borne a particular assemblage of plants, then when the islands later became considerably drier, the range of plants adapted to cope with minimal water.

Trees

Canary pines flourish on high, dry mountainsides, sometimes in places where nothing else grows. Almost every pine you see will have a blackened, scorched trunk, but they regenerate surprisingly well after forest fires. Beware of thick mats of long pine needles on the ground, as they are slippery underfoot. Canary palms also flourish in dry places at lower altitudes, and in the past every part of the tree had a use. Today they provide delicious miel de palma, or palm syrup. Every so often dragon trees occur, the last surviving descendants of ancient prehistoric forests. They have been decimated in the wild but prove popular in gardens.

Tagasaste trees are sometimes found in dense plantations, always in places where livestock are grazed. They grow with little water, yet have a high nutritional content and are regularly cut for animal fodder. In recent years they have been exported to Australia. Junipers are common on some dry slopes. Fruit and nut trees have been established, including apples, oranges, lemons, bananas, almonds, figs and vines. Prickly pears are abundant and their fruit can be harvested, but they were originally introduced for raising cochineal beetles, whose bodies provide a vivid red dye.

On the higheer parts of many of the Canary Islands, laurisilva ‘cloud forests’ are able to trap moisture from the mists and keep themselves well-watered. These forests once spread all the way round the Mediterranean and tropical regions but are now very limited in extent. The laurisilva forest covering the uplands of La Gomera, protected within a national park, is one of the best remaining in the world.

Laurisilva ‘cloud forest’ is found on most of the Canary Islands

Flowers

Bushy scrub is rich and varied around the Canary Islands, including sticky-leaved cistus and a host of species that walkers should learn to identify. These include bushy, rubbery tabaibal, and tall cardón, or candelabra spurge. Both have milky latex sap, as does tangled cornical, that creeps over the ground and drystone walls, and aulaga, which looks like tangled masses of spines often found colonising old cultivation terraces in arid areas. Aromatic, pale green incienso is a bushy plant that, with salado, grows densely on many of the arid lower slopes of the islands. Fragrant lavender and rosemary usually grow in arid, rocky or stony areas among other scrub species. Of particular importance on Gran Canaria are bushy white tajinaste, and the rarer blue tajinaste, which grows only on the island. Giant tajinaste grow on the mountains of Tenerife and La Palma. Few of the plants have common English names, but all of them feature so often that they should be learned. Some plants have such limited ranges that the only specimens you are likely to see in the entire world occur on specific stretches of the GR131.

Flowers grow all year round, but visitors in spring and early summer will be amazed at the colour and wealth of flowering plants. Many are Canarian endemics and even trying to compile a shortlist would be pointless. Anyone with a particular interest in flowers and other plants should carry a field guide, in English. Try Native Flora of the Canary Islands, by Miguel Ángel Cabrera Pérez, Editorial Everest, or Wild Flowers of the Canary Islands, by David Bramwell and Zoë Bramwell, Editorial Rueda.

Animals

As befits remote islands created in relatively recent geological time, the main animal groups to colonise the land were winged creatures, insects and birds. The largest indigenous land mammals were bats. Large and small lizards also arrived, possibly clinging to driftwood. The laurisilva ‘cloud forest’ is home to the laurel pigeon, while the rock pigeon prefers cliffs. Buzzards and kestrels can be spotted hunting, while ospreys are struggling. Ravens and choughs are common in some places. There are several varieties of pipit, chaffinch, warbler and chiffchaff. One of the smallest birds is the kinglet, a relative of the goldcrest. There are canaries, which have nothing to do with the name of the islands, and parakeets add a flash of colour. The islands attract plenty of passage migrants, and there are escapees from aviaries. The coastal fringes are colonised by gulls, while shearwaters and storm petrels spend most of their time on open water, far from land.

Once the Guanche people arrived and colonised the islands over 2000 ago, the forests suffered as much from clearance as from grazing by voracious goats. Following the Conquest in the 15th century, the Spanish brought in other domestic animals. Cats had a particularly devastating impact on the native wildlife, practically wiping out the giant Canarian lizards, which have only recently been rescued from the edge of extinction on El Hierro. The largest lizards on Gran Canaria survived near Las Palmas simply because they were adopted as pets! Rabbits chew their way through the vegetation and appear regularly on Canarian menus.

There are occasional oddities. Ground squirrels were released in Fuerteventura and can sometimes be seen in great numbers, but they aren’t found on any of the other islands. The sea is frequented by whales and dolphins, best seen by taking a specific whale- or dolphin-watching boat trip, though that involves leaving the GR131 entirely.

Protected areas

The Canary Islands feature a handful of national parks and many other protected areas. There are national parks on Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Gomera and La Palma. Most of the islands have been entirely designated as Biosphere Reserves, though only parts of